title: A role for Xvax2 in controlling proliferation of Xenopus ventral eye and brain progenitors.
abstract: The Vax2 homeobox gene plays a crucial role in early dorsoventral patterning of the eye. However, although Vax2 transcripts have been detected in later differentiating eye and brain regions, its possible roles at these stages are still unclear. By immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization, we extensively compared the expression patterns of Xenopus Vax2 (Xvax2) mRNA and protein. Expression of Xvax2 protein was found to be largely overlapping but more restricted than that of mRNA, suggesting that Xvax2 expression may be also regulated at posttranscriptional levels. During eye and brain neurogenesis, Xvax2 protein was detected in proliferating neural progenitors and postmitotic differentiating cells in ventral regions of both structures. Overexpression of Xvax2 in Xenopus embryos by mRNA microinjection and DNA lipofection appeared to inhibit proliferation in both eye and brain cells, thus pointing to a new potential role for Vax2 in controlling the proliferative properties of ventral eye and brain progenitors.
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Mingnan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lupo
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Barsacchi
authors.forename: Rongqiao
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005123:Eye / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology*; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D055495:Neurogenesis / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D029867:Xenopus Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014982:Xenopus laevis
chemical_list: D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D029867:Xenopus Proteins; C492361:vax2 protein, Xenopus